Standing By My Girl
by Ember411
Summary: Months have passed, New Direction has won Nationals. But Marley still struggles with her eating disorder. Who will stand by her, now that she's on the verge of her life? Rated T: Eating Disorder.


**Hello my little Ryley friends!**

**I was inspired by ****_SoulSurferfan116 _story _"_****I'm Gonna Love You Through**** It" to make something similar to all of that, but different too because then I just be copying their story, right? tehe.**

******Enjoy.**

_Stand By Me _- _Ben E. Kingly. (Marley)_******_  
__My Girl_ - The Temptations (Ryder)  
**

* * *

The rain storm outside of Lima, Ohio was strong. It would be better by the morning the news people report and, unlike most, the channel that Marley Louise Rose watched always seemed to be accurate.

So here she was. Marley, laying wide awake in her bedroom, listening to the raindrops make beautiful music in one way, but also the angels crying too. It was midnight. It was midnight of June 25th and she couldn't sleep. Sweat covered her body as she counted backwards to sleep. Nothing was working for her and she felt like she was going to pass away if she didn't get to sleep soon.

It was summer, June 25 to be exact. It had been several weeks since she and New Directions won Nationals in New York. She had managed to stay as fit as possible and by fit, Marley was still forcing her fingers down her throat when needed. Or made excuses to not eat anything for a meal such as going to a friends house for dinner or going out to eat with a friend. Marley's lies were all golden fruit to everyone, nobody thought of her as telling them lies.

She fooled them all for months. Nobody suspected a thing for months. Even her mother.

Her mother, Millie, didn't have a thought about Marley's eating disorder and she never thought of Marley going that way

Millie Rose had went out shopping a few hours earlier with a few of the lunch ladies for a party that one of them was having for another lunch lady friend of theirs. Millie had told Marley that she would be out late and be back the following day around dinner time, as there was another event the lunch ladies were doing.

* * *

Marley decided to go to the couch and watch a film. She was on the couch, wrapped in her favorite fuzzy navy blue blanket that covered short sleeve knee length white nightgown. She channel surfed for what felt like forever until she found her all time favorite movie, My Girl.

About an hour into the movie, Marley heard something. She was hungry. She's managed to eat enough to not faint but she still felt all those calories inside of her veins. Scratching at her blood and forcing them inside so that she would gain weight. Sometimes her clothes would fit, sometimes it was a bit too loose and sometimes it was too tight. When it became too loose, Marley devoured on anything sugary like a cupcake or a piece of cake. If she gained to much she find herself a bathroom and puke until nothing was left inside of her to digest and gain.

She couldn't take it any longer. She had to take something, for now. She sat up and walked over to the fridge, clenching onto the kitchen counters for dear life as she felt incredibly dizzy in her head. Marley opened the fridge and scanned around several areas until she found a large cupcake with pink frosting and little flowers in several other shades of pink. What surrounded the plate was smaller versions of the cupcake a few cake-pops. So much sugar, so many sweets.

"So many calories..." Marley's eyes wondered. She didn't know what to have as she took the plate out. She glanced all around. She took three cake-pops and two cupcakes and devoured herself in the sweetness. She placed the plate away than looked around more for sweetness.

She found nothing. At that moment she remembered that in the freezer was ice cream. Her favorite too. Chocolate chip cookie dough. She took that out and made a decent size bowl for herself and added whip cream, hod fudge and sprinkles. She went back to the living room and continued to watch her film.

By the end of the film Marley placed her bowl down. A moment later she paused and remembered all the sugary sweetness she had just ate. She then did the math in her head. All those calories on the cake-pops and cupcakes... the ice cream and whip cream and sprinkles... and fudge... Oh and that damn cherry!

Next thing Marley knew she was in the bathroom, door left opened, and stuck both her index and middle finger to the back of her throat.

She gagged and gagged and gagged as the acid burned her throat, her throat craving for oxygen. She stopped for several moments to take a breath, but went back afterwards.

She continued until she felt something pour out of her mouth. The food that which she had eaten was came out of her.

She moved on to round two, than three, than four and finally five. She couldn't take the gagging anymore but she was pretty sure that she had gotten rid of everything in her tummy.

She flushed the toilet and washed her hands. When she turned back to the mirror she saw her reflection. She was sweaty, eyes watery, frail fragile body showing some of her bones and flushed in her skin. She looked like a monster. What had she done to herself?

* * *

It was seven thirty. Marley had a few hours home to herself, but she didn't want to be by herself. She had just forced her fingers down her throat, she felt afraid and alone and dead. She began to cry, not knowing what to do at the moment. She grabbed her cell phone off her bed and went through the list until she found the number.

She pressed the number and waited several minutes before the other side of the phone was answered. A groggily voice yawned before speaking, "Marley?"

"Hi." She squeaked, trying to not cry.

"Is everything...okay? It's like... fifteen minutes to three in the morning. What's wrong?"

"Three in the morning?" Marley asked. She looked at a wall clock that read the time correctly. She began to cry a little bit on the phone, but covered it as soon as it happened. "Sorry, go back to sleep—"

"Marley you're crying," Ryder could sense it over the phone. "I'm coming over there, the key's still in the pot plant right?"

"No, don't come over." Marley said.

"I'll see you in a little bit." Ryder said, ignoring her comments and hung up.

About twenty minutes later Marley, who was sitting on the couch, saw the front door open and a second later saw Ryder. Ryder looked over and began to walk over as she shut the door tightly. He was at Marley's side at the second and rubbed her kneecap.

"What's wrong, Marley?"

"N-nothing." She replied.

"Marley, you were crying." Ryder took note of her puffy face, her voice and her red eyes. "Come on, what happened?"

Marley took a deep breath and sighed. "I got sick."

"Got sick?" He asked, confused.

"I've... I've been sick...and I tried to stop, but I couldn't." Marley cried again, her cringed up face dug itself it to the fetus position she forced herself into.

"Marley, what do you mean by sick?" Ryder asked.

Marley couldn't reply, she simply just kept crying. Ryder rubbed her back for several moments until he decided that she probably be more comfortable in her bedroom. Ryder stood up and scooped Marley up into bridal carrying style and began heading towards the stairs. He got up the stairs and went down the small hallway to the bedroom with her name written on the outside.

Inside the bedroom Ryder laid down on the bed with Marley and cuddled her. He was softly singing to her one of his favorite songs his father use to sing to Ryder's little sister, Abigail.

_**I've got sunshine on a cloudy day.**_  
_**When it's cold outside I've got the month of May.**_  
_**I guess you'd say**_  
_**What can make me feel this way?**_  
_**My girl...my girl... my girl**_  
_**Talkin' 'bout my girl...my girl.**_

"Come on, Marley," Ryder pleaded in his voice. "What do you mean sick?"

Marley couldn't answer still, she just cried.

Ryder took a deep breath and rested his head on top of Marley's. He gazed down at her table and found a photo of himself and her at the after party of _Grease._ He smiled.

Then he remembered.

"Marley," His silk voice pleaded. "Marley, are you still forcing yourself to vomit?"

"Y-Y-yes." Marley managed to say. She sat up and wiped tears away from her face. "Just... Just listen, please?"

Ryder sat up in a second and looked deep into her eyes. "I'm listening."

"I-I've been doing this for several months. Even after you told me how amazing everything was, I still felt my weight get bigger and bigger." Marley let a few tears come out. "I just want people to like me. If I'm skinny and pretty and beautiful, than they'll want to be my friends. I didn't have any at my last school, mainly because they kept calling me Future Lunch Lady or Mother Millie Monster. I can't stop myself from puking everyday because I don't want to gain weight. I want to be thin. I just want people to be my friends. I want to be beautiful. I want to be... I want to be like a shining star. And I know that one day I'm going to kill myself like some of those famous women."

Marley bawled her eyes out again, harder now that she let everything in her soul out. She could barely breathe with her huffing and puffing of depression. She attempted to pull herself into a fetus position again until she felt to strong arms grasp themselves around her in a protective hug.

Ryder had moved himself in front of Marley, sitting face-to-face with the beautiful girl of his dreams, the one he has dreams of every night. The mother of his children and the girl, pardon. The _woman_ who would be his wife forever.

"Marley, you listen to me." Ryder said sternly but lovingly in his voice. "I love you. Your so sweet, your compassionate about every positive thought in your mind. And you're also nice. Marley I know girls who would never stand up for someone like your Mom the way you do. And the Glee kids, we're all about singing and dancing. We don't label clothes or judge by our characters... much," When he said that Marley giggled a bit. "Marley you're so beautiful, inside and out, and if anything happened I would be devastated Your mother would be devastated. The Glee Kids devastated. McKingly High School would be devastated. Maybe even coach Sue."

"Coach Sue?" Marley asked, not believing him.

"She's pretty nice... most days." Ryder laughed. "Marley make me a promise. I want you to get help. I want you to have a good life and I want you to live healthy."

Marley nodded.

"It's going to be hard." She said.

"I know," Ryder hugged her tighter. "I know. But I'm here for you, Marley."

"It's going to take a few years for me to get over this." She told him.

"I'm by your side."

Marley giggled, thinking of a song she heard once. She sang the chorus part.

_So darling, darling_  
_Stand by me, oh stand by me_  
_Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me_  
_Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me_  
_Oh stand by me, oh won't you stand now, stand_  
_Stand by me_

__"I love you, Marley Louise Rose." Ryder said in confidence.

"I-I love you, Ryder _Shelley _Lynn." Marley laughed as a confused Ryder looked at her. "The school nurse was looking for you one day while I was in there getting a band aid. She asked for a Ryder Shelley Lynn. Who else at school has that name?"

"Shut up, Dog." Ryder laughed. He leaned in for her lips.

She, too, leaned in for a kiss.

It was a short kiss, but very sweet and meaningful and memorable.

Once pulled apart Ryder sang, **"_I guess you'll say, what can make me feel this way... my girl...my girl...my_**_ girl."_ Ryder whispered softly in her ear as he gave her a light kiss on the forehead.

_"So darling, darling, stand by me __Oh stand by me, oh won't you stand now, stand by me. __Stand by me."_

Marley and Ryder tightly, clinging onto each other for dear life.

* * *

**There you go.**

**Hope you liked it.**

**Sequel Update: I have the ideas, now I just need to organize all the chapters in order AND find time to start writing (I am in high school, you know!) haha.**


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